Transcript

JEAN HARTLEY:

One of the key challenges is to be clear about what is the purpose or task of your leadership. Now that may seem a bit strange, because surely, your task or your purpose is quite clear. And it may be specified in your job description or your own boss may have made it very clear about what it is you should be doing. But still, I think, a major challenge. And you see it particularly in experienced leaders. Is to take some time to really think about have I framed that in exactly the right way? Have I broken down the tasks appropriately? Have I missed something important about purpose?

So really thinking about that, and reflecting on it carefully and continuously and critically can be really important.

The second thing, I think in terms of leadership challenge, is trying to make sure that you match your leadership style or perhaps more broadly, your leadership approach, to the context that you're in and the kind of people that you're working with, and the kind of outcomes that you're trying to achieve.

I work quite a lot with the police, for example. And you see, particularly senior police, really reflecting on, is this a situation in which I need to use command and control? Because it's a public order situation or it's an emergency or people's lives are in danger. Or is it a situation where we're trying to tackle a new problem of people's safety in society. And I really need to draw in all of my team, and get them really problem solving. So thinking of a very different leadership style in that situation.

So really, I guess, the second challenge is thinking about, what's the best way to approach this? And what kind of style or what kind of approach? Is it something where we really aren't quite clear what the situation is? We need all the good brains that we can on this situation. Or skills or expertise.

Or is it something where we've done this before? We know how it's done. My job is to make sure it's done on time, to high quality, with people feeling fulfilled and happy as they do their work.

Another challenge I want to bring up is the idea of maintaining grace under pressure. It's a lovely phrase. And it communicates the idea that, even when things are going pear shaped, even when you're feeling quite stressed, even when you're under attack, perhaps from colleagues or from a boss or from the media, whatever it is, part of your job as a leader is to stay calm. And to operate with good grace.

Now that doesn't mean to say you act like an automaton. You may have quite strong feelings about the situation. But leaders I've talked to would say sometimes they have to bite their lip. And just keep maintaining good humour, being respectful, being polite, communicating what it is they want to say, and coming across as a leader who can cope in difficult situations.

We all know that when a leader has lost their temper or they get an edge in their voice or they snap at somebody, then that leader has lost it to some extent. And so this ability to maintain a calm, good humoured sense of grace is invaluable.